A peacefull rally of 25000 people at Syntagma sq. a la “Puerta del Sol” way. The rally was organized during the last 24 hours through Facebook and was held in all major Greek cities. The spark that led to this rally was the Spanish slogan heard in Spain “Don’t make much noise, you’ll wake up the Greeks”.
Greeks woke up finally and gathered together in large numbers in 38 major Greek cities, stating that they are no more indifferent at what is happening to them, because of the austerity measures their government keeps pushing. The uniqueness of this rally was that no political parties were involved as many Greeks believe that their current politicians are quite useless to save their country from poverty and misery. It was the first major rally organized exclusively through Facebook and everyone who participated stated that it was a big success. A large number of the participants stayed through the night at Syntagma sq. and renewed their participation for today the 26th of May. All the formal mass media ignored or snobbed the gathering untill they were obliged by their audiences and the mass of the people who participated, to cover it.

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31 Responses to Estamos despiertos! – We are awake!

we are well pissed off with our politicians aswell mate. Realize about it that protests are not going to help us on any way. The world today doesn’t care what citizens want. They think that as long as we have our TV, McDonalds and Ikea they are save.

The photos are great in telling the story and showing the atmosphere of the streets in this crisis. People all over feel frustrated by this unwise change of money doubling the price of goods but not the income… For me as a tourist this is frustating too Greece, Italy or Ireland use to be cheaper and that was so great I heard that even Portugal which I was thinking to visit this year is very expensive now because of the Euro. Tought times !!

Great set Stammy, you did an awesome work both documenting the rally, its atmosphere and purpose, and also capturing decisive moments street-wise. I really enjoyed this mixed approach to the gathering.
As for the rally, I do hope that it will receive attention and that it will lead to some real effect and changement. I hope the movement will spread to many other countries too!

There is an effort to spread the movement all over Europe. You’ll see it in FB. Today is the 3d day here in Athens. I’ll try to be there again, though the weather is definetly against us :(
Yesterday my daughter went downtown. There were lots of people despite the heavy rain!

I know what you mean, but as you said I prefer to focus also in the environment which gives context to my subjects.
You can say that I’m used to a “streetish” approach of what I see :D
Thank you very much for the visit and comment!

Sure your approach is “Streetish”, so is mine, I think. But lately I’ve started to see that diversification serves the whole stories really well. A portrait, a little detail, maybe the landscape (background of the event), they all can make the set stronger.
Thus the thought :)

Great social documentary series, Stamatis. Strong pictures that say more than words.
Good your people is awake. It is time the people in my country (Belgium) wakes up to.
We had elections last year in June, and still have no government. We are the world record holders of the longest government formation. Meanwhile, the interim government does nothing but the ministers wages are still getting paid, of course. And the weakest class in our society has to pay more taxes than ever before… It is time for some serious protests here to.
But apart from that : fantastic photography…

Thank you so very much for the comment and the visit!
All countries should rise against the nasty game, bankers are playing upon our backs.
Our government has no power to rule the country, they are under IMF occupation.
The weakest classes are close to misery because they have no means of resisting.Taxes have drained them out.
We are not P.I.G.S. we are hard working people, outraged from the way our hard earned money has been stolen by our corrupt politicians and by the multi-national bankers.
I’ve been watching the Belgian situation and really didn’t look good at me. The major part of Europe is in a real mess, and it’s time for people from all countries to start communicating and share their problems which most of them are common.

Bloody awesome set.
The Spanish slogan is totally inadmissible. Let’s see who’s door the FMI will knock on later. In times like these, nations should unite. So stupid and petty.
Love the “Estamos despiertos!” response.

Thanks a lot bro! Inadmissible or not, it was what brought us out in the streets with NO political parties involved!
Many participants shouted: “make as much noise as possible so the Irish wake up too!”
It’s awesome to communicate as nations under the same fate.

We have an incompetent government, but in many aspects, a lot of what’s going on it’s commerce fault. An example: before the Euro, a cup of coffee cost 50 Escudos. The day after, it cost 50 cents, which is EXACTLY the double. Our people took advantage of our people. It’s ridiculous. What cost 100 escudos started having price tags of 1€, The double again… now we complain… fucking stupid.. So I have grown a but of “I don’t care” to many shop owners who complain about the crisis.
But the inefficiency of our government is absolutely ridiculous. The cut on salaries and raise taxes, still they renew their automobile fleet of hundreds of thousands of Euros, they increase politicians benefits and retirement ages for them is about 8 years in service. We need a fucking revolution. Elections next week and the ratings show the socialist government may win again. We are a bunch of submissive fools.

Exactly the same things all over! Before the euro a 500ml bottle of water cost 100 drachmas. After the euro it cost 50 cents which is almost the double.
Shop owners here have dropped their prices in order to survive. You can have a coffee, a cheese pie and a botlle of water for 1 euro. Still, many people cannot afford that.
Things like that, made us go out in the streets. The majority of the people who rallied yesterday were people who abstained from the last elections as they had no party to vote for.
Still, abstaining is not a solution, because the same corrupt people get elected again and again.